A fuse holder includes a fuse carrier or fuse-carrier unit mounted to a receptacle or receptacle unit. In use, a fuse carrier bears an elongated fuse which has a pair of terminals. The fuse carrier releasably disposes the terminals for each fuse in tight electrical engagement with companion contacts of the receptacle.
The fuse carrier commonly comprises a body of molded insulation and the receptacle has a base and a complementary cover, both of molded insulation. In use, fuse receptacles are fixed in place, as on a panel. The fuse carrier is pivotally joined to the receptacle.
The pivotally joined carrier incorporates manual force-multiplied means for driving the fuse-carrier outward for releasing the tight grip of the contacts on the fuse terminals. More specifically, the force-multiplying means in the described fuse holder is a lever pivoted at one end of the fuse holder and acting against the other end of the fuse holder. Once the carrier is pivoted outward, the fuse may be removed and replaced. Typically, each fuse holder contains one fuse, being a single-pole device for interrupting a single current path.
A common form of circuit connection to the receptacle contacts of a fuse holder is by wires that enter the receptacle, joined to the receptacle contacts by screw-actuated wire fasteners.
Presently, two types of fuse holders are needed for a single pole circuit with a neutral line and a single pole circuit without a neutral line due to the different number of connections in each case. The difference in the number of receptacle connections necessitates two different bases and covers for the fuse holder.
The above discussed and other drawbacks and deficiencies are overcome or alleviated by a fuse holder comprising: a housing defining an enclosed region, the housing comprises a base and a cover, the base and cover adapted to accept differently configured cage holders within the enclosed region; a pair of contacts within the housing at opposite ends of the enclosed region and spaced to engage terminals on ends of a fuse; and a first cage holder and second cage holder configured to fit within in the housing, each cage holder of the first and second cage holders includes either a single pole cage or a plurality of pole cages.